Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 12th August 2015 – Celebrations for the Third African Day of Standardization were held today 12th August 2015 at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the leadership of the African Organisation for Standardization (ARSO) in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry of the AUC and the Ethiopian Standards Agency (ESA). The day was celebrated under the theme “The role of Standards in promoting sustainable Agriculture and food security in Africa”

The third African day of Standardization aimed to raise awareness among African Regulators, Industry, Academia, Consumers and the entire African Citizens on the benefits of standardisation on Africa’s economy. As regional markets become increasingly integrated, divergent and inconsistent national and regional trade policy and standards issues constrain intra-regional trade of most commodities.

In his opening remarks, the President of ARSO Dr. Joseph Odumodu stated “In the Celebrations of the African Day of Standardisation, it must be re-emphasised that, in view of the increased competition associated with globalisation, developing countries seeking sustained growth need to free themselves from dependence on primary products and diversify into manufacturing exports, whose value added translate into wealth. There are many obstacles for the realisation of such a policy, but there is a general consensus that a major barrier is the lack of the often sophisticated standards required to enter global trade markets.”

A made-in-Africa-Expo was held in parallel with the ARSO meetings to highlight the role of standardisation in promoting the manufacturing sector in Africa. Manufacturing currently contributes on average only around 10% to GDP while Africa has a large potential to develop labour-intensive manufacturing.

The made in Africa Expo, among other things, aimed at providing opportunity:

- to present investment opportunities, strategies and success stories to a diverse range of potential partners.

- for the Public-Private-Partnership networks and frameworks for funding, broadening of business engagement and trade.

- to exchange best practices with regulatory and trade facilitation authorities to reduce the economic burden on businesses in order to improve their productivity and profitability, and .

- to provide a platform to exchange evolving business trends to facilitate better positioning of national and sub-regional manufacturing and production enterprises.

Various presentations were made and discussions were held on the theme: "The role of Standards in promoting sustainable Agriculture and food security in Africa."

The event was attended by participants from the 21st ARSO General Assembly Meetings which were held in parallel from 10th to 14th August 2015.

/MFM